


The Blue Sky Is Just Like The Ocean

by XenoWolfe



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bonding, Dragon!phil, I had so much fun writing this I swear, M/M, Merman!Dan, Not Platonic, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-17 09:06:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3523541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XenoWolfe/pseuds/XenoWolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when a creature of the sky cross paths with a creature of the deep?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Blue Sky Is Just Like The Ocean

Phil should have killed the tiny hatchling. He was a Dragon, it was only natural. Dragons were an ancient and proud species, the most noble of the Supernaturals. The world they lived in was full of beings that possessed magic and among them, Dragons reigned supreme because they possessed a deadly combination of wit, strength and skill. But the reason they were near the top of the hierarchy of magical creatures was because they possessed magic far more powerful than those on the lower tiers. Dragons didn’t tolerate other Supernaturals trespassing in their own domain, especially when they want to be left alone. So shouldn’t Phil spare no mercy for a baby merman?

But it wasn’t Phil’s fault for making that mistake. He just didn’t know.

One day, centuries after Phil started his life as a young Dragon, he got his lucky break. After all these years in the shadow of his bigger, burlier brood mates, he had shown them that he was not a Dragon to be messed with. Phil used to be the runt in his brood, and the other Dragons had always bullied him into submission. Not anymore. He had conquered one of the richest Human kingdoms, Terratopia, by setting fire to their villages and killing their queen. And Phil claimed the queen’s majestic castle in the middle of the woods as his permanent territory. The various jewels and gold coins of the castle would certainly keep Phil happy for many years to come. He would protect this hoard with his life. He had earned it and no one would take it away from him.

He knew exactly what he was going to do with most of his hoard. But what he didn’t know what to do with was a pearl that he found hidden in the wall behind the treasure room. It was wrapped tightly in cloth with a curious letter stained in the lower right corner with something that smelled faintly of seaweed.

_Dear Balthis,_

_What I’m about to tell you is very important. This package I have sent in will determine the safety of our kingdom. This is the gift that was bestowed upon us by the people who were once our greatest enemies, and are now our friends. We have a responsibility to keep it safe or war will be wrought upon us._

_Tell no one that you have this. Keep it safe and submerge it in water when the next in line is born. Its name is Dan—_

The rest of the letter was obscured with the stain that had bled into the paper. Useless. Phil burns the letter in one breath and examines the pearl more carefully.

It was the biggest, shiniest pearl that he has ever seen. It was a milky white color and was the same size as one of the Humans’ basketballs, and had an eerily attractive aura emanating from its very core. Phil could easily see that the pearl could make him the envy of other Dragons everywhere.

“Save the Humans, eh?” Phil whispers to the pearl in his native Dragon language. “Preposterous. You are the biggest pearl I have ever seen, and you are in the room that houses the kingdom’s spoils of war. I see that the Humans are even greedier than I.”

Turning the delicate pearl carefully in his claws, Phil watches as the light reflects off the pearl’s surface. Phil’s Dragon instincts kicked in and Phil places the pearl carefully on top of his hoard. “You will be the pride of my collection,” Phil says to the pearl.

Little did he know how true his statement was.

***

Time passes, and Phil rules over the Human kingdom through threats and fear of death. But he didn’t need to survey his captured subjects flying around in his reptilian form. No, Phil preferred to walk around in his Human form. It was partly because he didn't want to seem like the Humans intimidated him so much he had to be in his Dragon form all the time and partly because it was just more convenient. No one was fooled that he wasn’t a Dragon though.

No, it was hard to miss the huge black wings streaked with blue stripes folded neatly on his back, the twisted white horns growing on the sides of his head, and the thick black tail that flicked side to side whenever Phil became testy or annoyed. And if they were stupid enough to miss any of that, if they were stupid enough to look into Phil’s fiery glowing eyes, an inferno of blue-green flames Phil breathed out would be the last sight they will ever see.

Phil had managed to force the kingdoms’ inhabitants to start building statues in his honor, as well as a new room in the castle for him to stash his hoard. The whole of Terratopia was in utter subservience to him. Some of the panicked and frightened Humans have actually took to worshiping Phil as a god because of their desperation. Phil didn't do anything to stop them. It amused Phil, and anyways he didn’t care what the Humans did as long as his hoard was safe and untouched. But no one dared anymore to take away his treasures. The Humans who lived in the area knew better than to bother the beast lurking in the castle’s empty rooms. So Phil had been stuck alone with no one to talk to but the foolhardy thieves who dared venture in the castle. And even they didn’t last very long. It made Phil wish sometimes that a knight would come and cure his boredom. Or maybe another Dragon who would challenge him for his territory.

But now for a more pressing matter.

Phil has not touched his prized pearl in weeks. Even though he had taken the huge pearl as part of his hoard, something about its aura and suspicious origin still unnerved Phil. He had stashed the letter deep into one of the drawers and paid no heed to its warning.

But he still had questions. Who was Balthis? Who are the enemies who turned into friends? What does this have anything to do with the pearl? What did the rest of the letter read?

And what do they mean, its name is Dan?

It infuriated Phil, for not only was he a noble and powerful creature, he was an intelligent and cunning one. Phil had one of the rarest traits among Dragons: curiosity. Dragon curiosity had long been suppressed in favor of brutality and deceit, but Phil had always relied on this trait because of his slender frame and small size compared with his larger kin. It had made him more imaginative and dangerous as a result. Phil was proud of this trait, and to not figure out this mystery bothered him immensely.

Staring at the pearl one day, Phil decided to do something that would change his life forever. Following the first part of the letter, Phil dropped the large pearl in the indoor pond of the castle. The pearl splashes straight into the murky grey water as the koi fish in the pond swims closer in interest.

Silence. Phil looks away, disappointed. “I knew it,” he mutters to himself, reaching out and gripping the pearl with his hands.

_Hissssssssss_

“What the hell?” Phil lets go of the pearl quickly and watches with fascination as bubbles rise and the water surrounding the pearl boils violently. The pearl, once a milky white color, turns golden in a matter of seconds. Fine lines form, crisscrossing the surface of the once solid pearl, until—

_Crack._

The boiling and hissing subside and the castle is once more enveloped in silence.

Phil leans over in bated breath. What had happened to the pearl? Is there powerful magic inside, trapped in the pearl with a witch's curse?

No. It was a baby. A baby that was curled up in a tiny ball and floating out of the shattered pearl. It seemed as harmless as a rabbit; the baby was fast asleep in deep slumber. Its soft wet hair was dark brown in color and its tiny hands were balled into fists. It was exhaling peacefully, bubbles coming out of its open mouth like it had not yet discovered that it was breathing water instead of air. 

It looked like an ordinary Human. That is, until it stretched out and revealed that it had no legs. Instead it had a beautiful, fish-like tail that was bright reddish in color and covered in orange-yellow spots. Its tail was grafted to its torso cleanly, the Human half ending where its tail began.  

The baby serenely glances up at Phil with its wide and innocent brown eyes as it stretches out to its full size. The baby merman starts swimming clumsily, tail moving up and down as it chases the koi fish. 

The pearl wasn't a pearl at all. It was an egg. A Sea Folk's egg. Also known as mermen, the Sea Folk were mysterious Supernaturals whose power was said to rival the Dragons. Sea Folk were also said to have unique magical powers that could stir up storms and huge waves, but fortunately, or unfortunately depending on one's point of view the few Sea Folk that have been captured didn't live up to this expectation. Phil himself didn't know much about them, as they were mysterious beings that lived deep in the ocean. But Phil somehow knew deep inside that this tiny merman posed no threat to him.

“Who are you?” Phil murmurs quietly to the newborn Sea Folk, tracing the surface of the water with his fingertip. "Are you... Dan?" The tiny baby stares in confusion and tilts its head. Quietly, it swims closer and touches Phil's hand.

 Phil shivers and quickly recoils in horror as he felt a jolt of energy. In that one second, that one second the baby Sea Folk had brushed its palm against Phil's hand, Phil had sensed its aura. This was no ordinary merman. Judging by its magical aura, it was a creature wielding magic so ancient Phil was unable to identify it. And for some reason, Phil's magic seemed to have reacted to it eagerly, erupting into crackling and fizzling blue-green light. The jolt of energy left tingling sensations running up Phil's arm.

Phil changed his mind. Although he was transfixed by the young Sea Folk, it could not be allowed to live.

***

_Two months_

Phil had not killed Dan yet.

The Sea Folk, now christened Dan, still lived inside the pond where he had hatched. He used to try to feed Dan with fresh goat's milk at first, thinking that Dan might have the same digestive system as a Human baby. But Dan's refusal to drink it meant Phil had to search for other possible food sources. What do the Sea Folk eat? After seeing the tiny, razor-sharp teeth lining Dan's pink gums, Phil resorted to feeding Dan with raw fish taken fresh in the market. Phil's hunch was right. Dan ate up the fish eagerly, looking up at Phil's eyes with a look as if to say he was begging for more.

Phil had also drained the pond and replaced it with clean water after he noticed several fish lying rotten and decaying on the pond floor. But before Phil had noticed the muddy, murky water, he found Dan swimming happily in the pond as if the water he was swimming in was not polluted and toxic. Phil had expected that Dan would have died if he hadn't noticed it sooner; yet Dan had again defied his expectations.

Phil thinks it's because of Dan's magic. Although Phil had made mental notes to kill the hatchling, Phil had never gotten around to actually doing it. Whenever he would remind himself of Dan's dangerous potential, the memory of Dan's innocent trusting eyes and small, frail body seems to halt his thoughts completely in his tracks. The very thought of seeing the baby merman dead revolted Phil so much he banished it without a single thought.

Phil couldn't understand why. Here he was, a Dragon who had killed hundreds of people, destroyed entire villages and ruled a kingdom through sheer force of will, and yet, he didn't have the heart to kill a helpless creature. 

Phil doesn't even know anymore why he had bothered letting Dan live.

But two months after the merman hatched, a new threat appeared. Phil first heard of the threat in the form of a message from one of his messengers, a Human that Phil had spared because of his important role in sending out messages to the kingdom. On that day, Phil was lounging in the throne room when he heard a disturbance near the castle gates. After allowing the messenger in, he resumed his place on his throne and listened with disinterest to the messenger's story.

"O Great Dragon,"  the messenger said in a trembling voice, kneeling before Phil. "I seek only a few minutes of your time. A grave threat has befallen your kingdom."

Phil looked on with boredom at the terrified messenger. "Address me by title, Human." It was not the way of the Dragon to give their true names to other beings, for names were sacred in Dragon culture. To address a Dragon by his true name, if you were not its mate, was a grave insult.

The messenger hesitates. "Yes, Master."

"Speak."

The messenger continues. "There have been Wolfmen attacks near the southern border of our kingdom. The Blue Moon pack has been growing bold recently. Word is the Wolfmen are headed to this castle. They will arrive in a matter of hours."

Wolfmen. The toughest, most brutal race with a taste for blood, they possessed the ability to change shape from beasts to beings. The werewolves were on the lowest tier of the Supernatural hierarchy, just above Humans. Their lack of magic meant little for them because of their tremendous physical strength and extreme viciousness. The other Supernaturals knew better than to mess with a Dragon, but Wolfmen's dimwittedness made them foolishly brave.

Phil glances nervously at the the door of the throne room. Outside the room was a hallway, and beyond the hallway was the door to the Great Hall. And in the Great Hall sat a small pond, where a tiny merman hid fast asleep. Wolfmen were no match to a Dragon's abilities, but they may very well spell death for the young Sea Folk.

"Master? Is there a problem?" the messenger asks, concerned.

"No, no." Phil had not told a soul about the merman he had accidentally hatched in the castle's indoor pond. If anyone knew that Phil had a soft spot for a vulnerable creature, someone would eventually exploit this weakness. Phil hated knowing he had a weakness.

"I'm alright," Phil tells him, shaking off the sense of foreboding creeping up his spine. "Let them come. I will make sure the Wolfmen will regret encroaching on the territory of a Dragon."

And come they did. During the night, the Wolfmen plunder the nearby villages recklessly. Most of the villagers have fled in fear. At precisely midnight, near the castle gates, a group of fifty lion-sized wolves appear from the shadows. Their leader leisurely walks toward Phil in his human form, cloak draped over his shoulders.

Phil's already waiting for them.

"We do not want to hurt you, Dragon," the Alpha Wolf declares. "There are too many of us for you to deal with. We have only come because a Human has sent us. We have struck a deal with this Human to retrieve a stolen belonging from this kingdom."

Humans and Wolfmen? Working together? Such a scenario was beyond the absurd.

"Stop trying to lie to me. You have killed hundreds of Humans already. Why would you honor a deal with one?" Phil snarls. "What do you selfish beasts want?" 

"It's business, Dragon. The Human has agreed to give us a large portion of his territory without a fight in exchange for the package. The Humans in this kingdom are just in the way." the Alpha Wolf's eyes glitters with greed. "You should know this feeling of selfishness too. Do you care about Humans yourself, Dragon? "

The Alpha Wolf had a point. Phil didn't care about Humans, either. But these Humans are part of Terratopia and Terratopia was his property. That meant the Humans were his property too. And the other Dragons would laugh at him for failing to protect his property.

"I do not," Phil states plainly. "However, you are trespassing my territory, and the villages and this castle is my territory. I do not take kindly to trespassers." And with that, Phil shape shifts into his reptilian form: a large, winged beast that was striped blue and black as the night, with sharp claws and twisted horns. Phil bares his large canines and spoke in a deep and threatening voice. "Leave and tell your little Human you have failed your mission." the Alpha Wolf grinned at his supposed foolishness.

"Never, Dragon!" More than a dozen wolves rush at him at the same time, catching Phil completely by surprise and latching their teeth onto Phil's tough hide. "Give us the pearl!"

What pearl? Wait. Phil's blood turns ice cold. Did they just say pearl? The pearl that was actually a Sea Folk egg? That meant the Wolfmen knew the "pearl" existed, but not that the pearl was actually an egg. That probably meant the Human who sent the Wolfmen had kept it a secret. With every new revelation about Dan that Phil uncovered, the more the mystery deepened.

What other secrets is this tiny hatchling hiding?

Phil breathes a column of blue-green flames and incinerates three Wolfmen. But the Wolfmen are right: there are too many of them. With Phil pinned down by sixteen large wolves, the rest run inside the castle to search for the pearl. Phil grows more frantic with each passing second.

"I don't know about any pearl!" Phil roars, his energy setting his enormous form on fire. All sixteen wolves yelp and leap away from Phil. The Wolfmen's fur blazed with blisteringly hot fires.

Ignoring their cries of agony, Phil flaps his huge wings and flies into the castle doors. He heads straight into the Great Hall, where the hall seemed to be bathed in an eerie silence. Phil peers into the pond. The surface of the water is glassy and still, devoid of all signs of life.

"Dan, are you still here?" Phil whispers to the water.

"Where is the pearl, Dragon?" A voice demands from behind him. Phil whirls around and finds the Alpha Wolf glaring at him.

"I said I don't know," Phil spits. "Leave before I kill you."

"How terrifying." the Alpha Wolf yawns as he is joined by his entire pack, growling as they enter the room one by one. "I found another intruder in here. Your senses are dulling, Dragon." The Alpha Wolf  throws something, and it lands on its back, hard.

It's Dan. His tiny eyes were shut tight and he was gasping. Dan couldn't be out of the water for any length of time. Already, his gills were flapping uselessly and his tail was turning a dull red as his scales dry out.

"I thought you killed everyone who threatens your territory? I found it in the pond. This little bastard has more magic than any being I've every seen. Are you playing favorites, Dragon?" the Alpha Wolf taunted. "Don't worry, after we're through with you, we'll kill the pest too. Then we'll be able to rule  _this_ territory along with the one the Human gave us—"

Phil only sees red. Stepping carefully over Dan and picking him up with his large claws, he cradles Dan and glares at the Wolfmen. They look over in confusion.

"What the heck?" said the awestruck Alpha Wolf. "Did you just protect a useless Sea Folk hatchling?"

Phil breathes out his flames with all his might on the unsuspecting Wolfmen, scorching and killing them all.

With the deed done, Phil transforms back to his Human form and carefully places the gasping merman in the pond. He barely notices the vaguely familiar tingling where his hands had cradled Dan's skin. In seconds, the young Sea Folk falls fast asleep.

Phil had wiped out an entire Wolfman pack. For this tiny, growing merman. A merman who was sought after by an unknown Human. A merman who elicits such a powerful protective instinct in Phil. A merman whose potential is still unknown. Phil wasn’t stupid; he should have left the merman to die. But as he stared back at Dan’s soulful eyes, he couldn’t find it in himself to end his feeble life.

"You... you may live, interesting one." Phil tells the oblivious hatchling. 

***

_Three years_

Much time has passed. Dan's three years old now. Dan's pretty red tail only gets redder and glossier with each passing year. A spiny sail-like fin is growing on Dan's exposed back. His fingernails and teeth have begun to grow sharper. Dan was now swimming more nimbly and quickly in his small pond. And Dan seems to have gained the merman's reputation as a silent and deadly predator.

Dan the helpless hatchling is helpless no more.

Phil had also started researching about the mysterious Sea Folk. After just being attacked by vicious Wolfmen because of a Sea Folk egg, Phil was not taking any chances. But all the information he got was from old and outdated books from the dusty library in his castle. Even then, all the information written about Sea Folk was already carefully deduced by Phil's observance of Dan. Sea Folk were keen on keeping their secrets. Phil will have to wait before his questions were answered.

He had ordered a kingdom-wide search for the Human who ordered the Wolfman attack, but there hadn't appeared to be any leads.

Phil was also starting to teach Dan how to read and write. Though Dan was a quick learner, Phil had to give up after a few lessons on teaching Dan his Dragon Language. Dan couldn't growl, roar or snarl, and these were essential to the Dragon language. Dragon language also had dozens of different sounds that weren't suited to be pronounced by Dan's immature vocal chords.

His research on the Sea Folk’s language proved futile too. For one thing, Phil lacked the organs necessary for him to pronounce the Sea Folk’s complex speech. His voice couldn’t produce the squeaks, clicks and whistles of the language, and neither can he communicate by sonar. And of course, when he learned that Sea Folk language required speakers to be able to have some form of telepathy, Phil had to throw up his hands and give up. Obviously, Sea Folk magic must be vastly different from that of the Dragons to have telepathy. 

Poor Dan could only be taught Human language by Phil. And Phil learns alongside Dan, bringing them closer together.

At least the castle didn't seem to be as empty as before.

"What have you learned, Dan?" Phil asks the young merman one day. Dan dives under the water.

"I learned mermen are good swimmers!" Dan cries excitedly when he surfaces. Dan had finally learned to close his gill slits and breathe through his nose when he was out of the water.

"Unlike me," Phil adds cheekily. But what's the real name of mermen?" Phil had asked this question several times because he looked forward to the funny expressions Dan always made when he knew the right answer. 

"Sea Folk!" Dan yells happily. Phil's tail swishes in contentment.

"And what am I?" Phil asks in reply.

"Daddy!" Dan says with a big grin on his face. Phil looks at him in alarm.

"Dan, where did you learn that?!"

"I learned it in the book you gave me.  And no, I didn't get it wet Mr. Dragon," Dan tells Phil. "I dried my hands like a good Sea Folk should."

"What book?"

Dan rolls his eyes playfully. "The one with the Human family. I don't know what happened to my mummy, but you're my daddy for sure. Didn't you tell me the story of the bad wolves so many times? You protected me from the bad wolves. The book says that daddies protect their kids."

Phil's eyes widen at the thought. Him, Dan's dad? He shakes his head hard. "No, no no, Dan. You don't understand. I'm not your dad. I protect my territory and my property. And that includes you. It's what Dragons do."

Dan pouts. "But I don't want to call you Mr. Dragon!"

It didn't feel right to Phil to tell Dan to address him by a title, but Phil couldn't give him his real name too. So Phil opts to lie. "Call me by my name, then. Lester."  

"Mr. Lester?" Dan suggests sullenly.

"Close enough." Phil was honestly disturbed by Dan's "Daddy" statement, but he didn't know  _why_ it bothered him so much.

If Phil noticed that Dan was disappointed by his sudden aloofness, Phil certainly didn't show it. 

***

_Five years_

Phil introduces Dan to the ocean when he was five years old. When Phil had noticed that Dan had grown weary of his small pond, swimming in circles and ceaselessly talking about the sea and the ocean in the stories Phil was reading to him, Phil decided that enough was enough.

"Dan do you want to see the ocean?" Phil asks him.

Dan snaps out of his deep thoughts. "Of course, but I'm never going to see it. I'm stuck in this crummy pond." 

"I can take you there."

"Woah, really?" Dan yells. "But how? We can't exactly walk there, can we?" he emphasizes this by lifting his red merman tail.

"Of course I can take you to the ocean. But the way we're going to it will sound strange."

A whole lot of coaxing and explaining later, Phil manages to get Dan's arms wrapped around his large Dragon neck and Dan's sharp nails buried in his tough hide. With Phil in his reptilian form, Dan was barely visible on his scaly back. Phil stretches his wings to their full length.

A Sea Folk toddler on a Dragon's back. If Phil's broodmates could see him now, they would surely laugh at him. But this is the only way Phil could get Dan to the beach.

"Hang on tight," Phil reminds him in his deep Dragon voice, and takes off. They leave solid ground in a heartbeat, rising high above the mountains and the Human villages.

"Look look Mr. Lester! We can touch the clouds!" Dan says, stunned. He watches the wispy white clouds float by with fascination.

"Don't let go!" Phil shouts back.

They reach the ocean in minutes, landing on a quiet deserted beach. Phil flies fast, worrying about Dan's health, but it turns out it was all in vain. Dan's not sickly and weak. In fact, he was energetic and impatient, demanding that Phil takes Dan closer to the waves. Phil fights his natural aversion to water and sets Dan down gently, transforming quickly back into his Human form. Dan disappears into the waves silently.

For one terrifying second, Phil imagines that Dan has left him, left him to go back to his  _true_ home, but Dan quickly reappears in front of a startled Phil with an orange reef fish in his mouth.

"I've never seen a fish like this!" Dan says after he spits out the fish in his mouth. "Tastes yummy! Try it!" he holds up the fish to Phil.

Phil didn't care much for fish, but he obliges by smoking it with his fiery breath and nibbling the soft, charred flesh of the reef fish.

Tastes like chicken.

“Hey! Mr. Lester, did you just breathe fire on me? You better not have set me on fire!” the young merman flicks his tail and a spurt of water splashes onto Phil. Dan was having the time of his life.

“No, Dan,” Phil says fondly, not minding one bit that he was completely soaked from head to toe. “You’re not on fire.”

They stayed till dusk that day. On that day, Phil tells him stories about his Dragon past, centuries of memories returning to Phil's mind. And Dan delights him with stories of his misadventures with the koi fish in his pond. Phil hasn't had a happy day like this one in ages.

"I don't wanna leave and go back to that tiny pond," Dan whines after Phil tells him it was time to leave. "The castle is boring and I feel like we're trapped in there with nothing to do."

"Me too," Phil agrees softly, watching the sun dip lower. "I don't want to go."

Dan's expression grows more forlorn. "I just wish I can go out and see more stuff like this. My pond's too small." Dan is silent for a few moments.

After they got back to the castle, Phil ordered his subjects to build a moat around his castle. Dan transfers there the day it's filled with water, but Phil soon realizes it's not enough. 

Dan's longing for the ocean just grows stronger each day.

***

_Seven years_

When Dan was seven years old, Phil received a warning for the things about to come.

Dan finds a knight wandering near the castle gates. As soon as the knight tried to swim across the moat, Dan drags him underwater using his brute merman strength and calls for Phil.

Phil finds the knight in a near unconscious state, choking horrendously. Hardly surprising, since Dan had almost drowned him.

"What do I do with him?" Dan asks, staring at the knight as he coughs up the water in his lungs. Phil shakes his head.

"I'll handle it," he tells Dan. He turns his gaze to the knight. "What are you doing here, Human? Are you so foolish as to anger a Dragon?"

"You hatched it," the knight whispers, ignoring Phil's question and staring directly at Dan's perplexed face.

"What?" Phil asks, raising an eyebrow.

"You hatched the merman!" the knight shouts. "Do you have _any idea_ what you've done?" Dan ducks under the water in fright. _  
_

 "Calm down," Phil orders angrily. He was dangerously close to killing the insane Human.

"You hatched it," The knight screams, eyes wild. "It's too late. Too late. They sent me hoping that you hadn't touched it, hadn't recognized it for what it was, but it's too late. We're all going to die, and it's all because we're going to die by a merman's wrath!" He points his finger at Dan. _"Your father will kill us all!"_

Dan gapes, his young mind not comprehending. The knight grips tightly onto sword, breathing heavily.

"I'll call the castle guards," Phil decides after a tense silence. "They will escort you out of the premises."

Dan watches with quiet contemplation as Phil smacks the knight upside the head with his heavy tail. The knight falls with a heavy thud onto the stone floor.

"Mr. Lester," Dan mumbles after a while. "You really aren't my daddy, aren't you?"

 Phil bites his lip, trying to figure out his emotions. Did he need to cry? No, that was a weak thing to do. Only Humans cried. "...No. I did tell you, right?"

"Mmm-hmm. But... who's my real daddy, then?"

"I don't know, Dan." Phil replies sadly. Dan sinks further into the water, eyes downcast with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Well, I'd like to know my daddy someday. But for now, I have the next best thing. You're a nice person, Mr.Lester. Thanks for taking care of me. I... I love you," Dan finishes. He looks away with a smile on his cheeks.

Phil pulls him into a tight embrace, ignoring the familiar tingling sensations he always felt when he touched Dan. "Love you too little Dan," he says, brushing Dan's wet hair away from his forehead.

He doesn't let go for a long time.

***

_Ten years_

When Dan was ten years old, he learned Phil's true name.

"Mr. Lester!" Dan says cheerfully, leisurely swimming on his back. "There's a nice Dragon here to see you and he says he's a friend. He wants to come in."

Looking out from a castle window, Phil frowns. "Dan, Dragons don't have friends. Especially other Dragons."

"But he says he's a friend."

Phil unfolds his wings. "Hang on Dan, let me see him." Phil flies across the moat to the other side. "Where is he, Dan?"

"Right here," the Dragon flaps his large wings and settles in his Human form comfortably. "Nice to see you again, brother."

Phil retreats several steps. "No," he says in horror.

Yes indeed. It was Henry, Phil's vicious and more aggressive older brother. Henry was the largest of Phil's brood, and he always used it to his advantage. Phil had terrible memories of Henry carving deep wounds in his young, still soft hide. Up to now, Phil still bore some of the scars.

"Hi," says Henry with a crooked grin, running his thick fingers through his oily dark hair. Phil had always thought Henry was the ugliest one of his brothers.

"What do you want? Why did you come here?" Phil asks Henry in their native Dragon tongue warily, moving in front of Dan.

Henry notices the movement. "Oh, no reason," he says casually. "I just got evicted from my territory by a coven of bloodsuckers. I hate those immortals. But when I heard from a little birdie that you had a nice territory here in the north, I knew I had to pay a visit. 'Course, that little birdie's now dead, but details, details."

Phil's eyes narrowed. "You are not taking my territory," he hisses.

"Who said anything about taking?" Henry says. "You are going to give it to me." Henry shifts into his Dragon form quickly, a large and ugly red beast with leathery wings blowing red-hot flames. Dan yelps, terrified.

"Stay away from him!" Dan screams bravely in a trembling voice, leaping out of the water with his sharp fingernails extended like a cat's. Henry takes one look at him and bats him out of the air with his claws. Dan lands hard on his head.

"Tsk, tsk," Henry tutted, switching to Human language so Dan could understand he was taunting him. "Are you already dead? Oh well."

Phil bares his teeth. "Henry, you are making a terrible mistake."

"Phil," Henry sang, using Phil's real name to insult him. "That's a loyal pet you have there. But Dragons don't have pets. Have you actually gotten this slimy fish attached to you?" Henry barks out a harsh laugh and swipes his arm at Phil's legs, knocking him over.

"None of your business," Phil growls. Henry only laughs harder.

"Oh, this is priceless!" Henry exclaims. "You're actually attached to it, too? You were always so pathetic, Phil," he says with amusement. "Why don't you just die?"

The ground rumbles under their feet. " _No. Why don't_ you _die?"_ Dan suddenly sits up, eyes dark with a mysterious anger and staring at Henry.

Dan extends his hand towards Henry.

 _Bang._ A burst of red light punches the Dragon straight in the chest, knocking Henry off his feet. Henry slips clumsily and lands on his tail. Dan raises his arm and all of the water in the moat rises slowly.

"Dan?" Phil watches in amazement.

"Beg for your life," Dan says in a monotonous tone.

"Dd _—_ don't hurt me, you freak of nature!" Henry stutters. Phil would have laughed at the absurdity of a Dragon stuttering in its deep voice, but he was completely stunned into silence by Dan's show of magic. "The other Dragons are coming. They will kill you mercilessly!"

Dan brings down his arm, and with it, all the water in the moat comes crashing down on Henry. Henry's huge body shudders from the weight of hundreds of tons of water being poured on him. Soon, the Dragon stops moving.

Henry was dead.

"You didn't beg," Dan whispers, and collapses. Phil rushes to Dan's side.

"Dan, Dan, speak to me," Phil says urgently. Dan bobs his head weakly.

"I need to go back to the moat," he croaks. "The water will heal me." Phil looks around frantically at their now flooded surroundings. 

"There's no water in the moat, remember? You used it all up!" Phil cries. "We have to get to the ocean!"

"But what about your hoard? What about your territory? Another Dragon just fought you for it, remember?" Dan points out. "I can't stay out of the water forever. And you heard the Dragon, more of them are coming!"

"We can get back here after I get you there," Phil says hurriedly. 

"I'll need more than just a dip in the water. It's okay, Phil." Dan hesitates, trying out Phil's name for the very first time. "I know your hoard means the entire world to you. You can just leave me here."

"You idiot! I'm not letting you die!" Phil scoops up Dan and shifts into his Dragon form. "We can't stay here, it's too dangerous for the both of us. My hoard can wait, but you can't!" Without a second thought, he spreads his wings and leaves the castle.

"Thank you," Dan whispers before ultimately succumbing to unconsciousness.

Phil doesn't look back even once. All Phil could think about was the dying merman, the merman he had taken care of since he first hatched a decade ago.

Phil moves Dan to the harbor, abandoning his hoard in favor of living in a quiet coastal town in Terratopia that had been deserted because of its stormy weather. Dan lived in the harbor, Phil lived in a tiny cottage by the beach. It's now their permanent home.

 He hasn't visited the castle, not even once. Doesn't even miss his hoard one bit. Its given him nothing but trouble. The hoard had chained him to this lonely castle, making a mighty, high flying creature a prisoner of its stone walls.

He was no longer a slave to his greed.

***

_Fourteen years_

Phil would like to say that their story ended there, that they had a peaceful life after everything that happened to them, but sadly life didn't work like that.

In Dan’s fourteenth year, Phil’s ancient bloodlines force him to answer a call. It was a peculiar thing that happened in a Dragon's lifespan: only once every few centuries, Dragons go on a yearlong journey, a journey that spanned hundreds of miles and thousands of faraway places. It was a journey to search for a mate, and the instinct is so embedded, so innate to a Dragon's being, that it is considered to be the only weakness that could be reasonably exploited in a Dragon.

The intense feeling associated with their mates is the Dragon's greatest strength, but it is also a weakness. 

Phil sighs, finally giving into the relentless urge. It felt like an itch he couldn't scratch and he couldn't take it anymore. The instinct to leave was too strong. His very core was yearning to wrap itself around a mate and intermingle with their magic. Phil had to leave on the journey soon, or the feeling of restlessness would only grow stronger. He didn't want to hurt Dan if he couldn't restrain himself.

So in the middle of the night, he walks up to the pier and calls out in a low voice. "Dan?" 

The water is dark and murky.  Dan pops up minutes later, hair wet and eyes wide. Phil's never figured out how Dan could hear him; sometimes Dan was miles away and many leagues under the ocean, yet he'd never miss it when Phil calls out to him. "What do you need?" Dan asks. "It's the middle of the night."

"I'm leaving for a while. Can you handle yourself while I'm away?"

"What are you talking about?" Dan says carefully, eyeing Phil. "Where are you going? How long are you going to be away?"

"I will be leaving for a year. Maybe a year and a half," Phil  tells him. Dan stares at him, shocked.

"No!" 

Phil had to look away from Dan's heartbroken face. "Dan, we talked about this already. I tried to fight it, and it's only going to grow stronger. I wasn't able to fight it before. I won't be able to fight it now."

Phil turns to leave, but his wrist is suddenly encased in a warm grip. Phil glances back and sees Dan's desperate eyes.

"You said you'd stay!" Dan protests weakly. "You told me it was more important to stay hidden!"

Phil smiles sadly. "I know, Dan. But I hope you understand."

“Mr. Lester... Phil, I don't understand!” Dan begs. "Please, Phil. You don't understand why I don't want you to leave."

Phil flinches away from Dan’s sudden use of his true name. Dan hadn't used Phil's name since that fateful day he had killed Henry. Why was Dan calling him that now, when he understood perfectly why it was taboo to call a Dragon by name? When Phil had told him over and over again what it had meant? Phil wraps his hand around Dan's throat and forcibly pulls him up.

"Stop being juvenile, Dan. You're not a hatchling anymore," Phil growls. "You think insulting me is going to make me want to stay? I need this. I need someone to cherish, to protect... I need a mate, Dan! Do you want to see me suffer and die alone?"

Dan struggles against Phil's iron grip. Sea Folk may be five times stronger than Humans, but Phil was still a Dragon. "You're not suffering alone, you've got me! And I'm not insulting you by calling you Phil!"

"Then why did you call me by name?" Phil says irritably.

"Because I _need_ to Phil. I want to get to know the real you, call you by your real name. I want you to take me seriously. " Dan whispers quietly, raising his hand and lightly running a finger on the hand around his throat. The electric tingles Phil always felt when his skin was in physical contact with Dan's amplifies. "I have to tell you something, Phil. Lately I've noticed something when we're together. I'm feeling these things... I don't know what it means, but I think we're connected in some way."

Phil was in a state of utter shock. Dan felt it too? After all these years of pondering over it, Phil had always assumed it was only him who felt the sensations. He had reasoned that it was an overreaction to the merman's unusually strong magic and had left the matter unanswered.  "I don't know what you're talking about," Phil quickly denies.

Dan's reaction makes Phil quickly regret his denial. "Oh. It's... it's only me then," Dan shakily replies, quickly withdrawing his hand. His disappointed face gives Phil an overpowering urge to hug it out of him.

“Dan, please listen to me!” Phil says instead in what he hopes is a reasonable voice. “We can’t be together forever. You're a Sea Folk and I'm a Dragon. Yes, I have you. For now. But one day you'll tire of being with me. One day you'll yearn to be with your kind. And when that day comes, you'll leave me to join the Sea Folk in the ocean. Do you think I'll be able to come with you?" He flaps his wings weakly.

"That'll never happen!"

"...And if there was an inkling of a chance you choose to stay, one day you'll grow frail and weak. Sea Folk live such short lives. Do you know how long Dragons live? More than five thousand years old!" Phil gestures to himself. After a decade of raising Dan, Phil has barely changed. He still looked like a Human in his late twenties. And he'll be frozen in this age for centuries to come.

"You _—_ how old are you?"

"Dan, it doesn't matter." Phil's grip loosens. "Don't let me live a lonely life, Dan. I'll be here in this world long after you're gone," he pleads, ignoring Dan's question. "Don't... don't make me go back to my old life destroying villages and kingdoms after everything I've been through with you. Please."

Dan doesn't speak. Phil lets go of him, falling to his knees and burying his face in his hands. Phil laughs without humor. "I'm the most pathetic Dragon that's ever lived."

There’s a heavy silence.

"Go," Dan finally mumbles. "If it means that much to you. I'll just wait here then." Dan's hurt tone pierces Phil's heart deeply.

When Phil looks up, Dan's already gone. All he sees is the end of a red tail slipping silently into the water. 

Dan still didn’t realize how cruel the world is. Dan was a Sea Folk, Phil was a Dragon. One of the sky, the other of the sea. Soon, either Dan or Phil will have to abandon the other to return to their home, fall in love and live their lives.

And both of them will have to learn to go on without the other.

***

_Sixteen years_

It happens eventually, but not how Phil thought it would go. Eventually, Phil had spread his wings and bid farewell to the young Sea Folk with a heavy heart. But he returned only after a few months, his search fruitless because thoughts of Dan haunted him every second he was without the merman.

Since that fateful day, Dan had distanced himself from Phil. Phil's growing more anxious as time passes by; Dan was spending more and more time underwater and he seldom returned to the pier where he used to meet up with Phil everyday. And even when Dan came ashore, he would only linger for a few moments before slipping back underneath the water's surface.

Dan's strange behavior was puzzling Phil, but he couldn't do anything about it because he didn't want to worry Dan about his observations.

So Phil put up with it until the day he couldn't take it anymore.

And that day, after they had met at the water's edge in the pier and Dan had just given him another cold shoulder, Phil's patience runs out.

"Dan, stop it. Stop this right now." Phil states, daring him to respond.

"What?" Dan stares back at him with bored eyes. 

"Answer my question. Did I do something this time?" Phil says irritably. Dan scrunches his eyebrows.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Dan! You're always saying things when you started ignoring me, like you were busy, or you didn't hear me, and all sorts of nonsense." Phil tells him angrily. "I used to accept all your excuses. But not anymore. I'm not stupid, Dan. What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything." Dan averted his eyes from Phil's intense gaze.

"I'm serious. If you keep on ignoring me, I wont put up with it anymore. I won't forgive you." Phil's lip wobbles. He was bluffing, and both of them knew it.

"I'm serious too, Phil." He had long stopped calling Phil by his fake name, and on most days it gives Phil a strangely comforting feeling. But this time, it just irritated the hell out of him. "I'm just... I just need to figure myself out for a while. I don't think it's a good idea to talk about it with you. I just need things to get better." _  
_

_"Nothing_ is going to get better if you don't tell me. _"_  Philtells him. "I care about you, Dan. Please tell me."

"Not in the way I care about you," Dan blurts out.  Phil blinks.

"I care about you a lot. Why would you say that?" Phil asks, confused. He feels like he's threading on eggshells. The misunderstandings just seemed to be piling higher and higher. 

"It's not what you think, Phil." Dan's eyes water. "I... I think I realize something. Everything's so obvious now. All those times I've been telling myself it was  _wrong_ to feel this way, I wasn't sick or twisted or insane—"

"Realize something?" Phil interrupts Dan with alarm. "Dan, you're not making things any clearer for me."

"It doesn't matter," Dan says in a tender voice. "But if you really insist on knowing, I won't be able to hold myself back any longer."

"Hold yourself back? What are you—wahhh!"  Phil shouts in surprise as Dan suddenly pulls him into the water. 

Phil's first instinct was to spread his wings. Phil didn't know how to swim; he was completely at the mercy of Dan. But if he was going to get to the bottom of Dan's mystery, he had to trust him. He felt himself submerge completely. Dan's tight grip was his only lifeline. Carefully, he opens his eyes, ignoring the sting of the sea water. 

Dan was staring at him, his face entirely too close to his. Phil was close enough to see the fine lashes framing his dark brown eyes that reflected an unreadable expression. He could make out the sharp lines of Dan's face that held no more traces of delicacy. Phil quietly wonders when Dan had lost his youthful demeanor and soft curves. He marveled at how quickly Dan had aged; for years Phil had been staring at a young face that, in what seemed like an instant to a Dragon, had morphed into a handsome and purposeful one.

Phil snaps out of it when Dan leans over and brushes his lips ever so slightly against his left cheek. Immediately, a spike of sensation shoots up Phil's spine. Dan beckons him closer with a finger. Phil swims closer hesitantly.

Dan closes his eyes as if to prepare himself for something. Carefully he takes Phil's hands in his own and intertwines his fingers with Phil's. In front of Phil's amazed eyes, his crackling blue-green magic appears and wraps around Dan's body, casting him in a bluish glow. As soon as Dan's crimson red magic starts enveloping him in a warm aura, Phil jerks his hands away hastily and swims up to the surface with Dan following close behind.

"Dan, what was the point of that?" Phil's voice trembles. What did he just witness? It almost seemed... _intimate_.

Nothing could prepare him for the next moment.

"Don't you see it Phil? We were made for each other," Dan says, eyes shining with renewed confidence. "I don't have to keep lying to myself."

Phil had barely processed his last words when Dan wraps him in a tight embrace.

"I love you," he whispers in his ear.

"You what?" Phil’s heart stops. 

No, this couldn't be happening, this couldn't be. Dan was his precious merman. The son he never knew he needed. And now, the only being he would sacrifice his life for. It was probable that no one alive, Human or Supernatural, will ever be able to replace him in Phil's heart. It was undeniable that Phil loved Dan, but already Phil has realized that Dan didn't love him in the same way; in fact, his tone suggested much,  _much_ more than what Phil could offer.

"Please don't be scared," Dan pleads.

But Phil couldn't calm down. "I...I—can't!" Phil cries, flapping his wet wings and taking off.

"Wait! PHIL!" Dan's voice echoes weakly. Phil doesn't answer. He only flies higher and higher until he drowns out the thoughts in his head.

_what happened to my precious little innocent merman its wrong and hes too young he's crazy for thinking I'm worth it_

Dan's confession brought a wave of emotions to Phil. For years he'd been thinking about his unnatural devotion to someone not of his own kind. It was strange and unusual, yes. It could have easily been mistaken for romantic love for someone as young and naive as Dan. Was Dan's own feelings really the reason why he had been avoiding Phil? It almost made Phil wish he had kept his mouth shut. He wasn't ready for the truth.

But Phil couldn't leave Dan without an answer. He can already anticipate the heartbroken look on Dan's face as Phil tells him he didn't feel the same way. He sighs, tilting his wings and turning back toward the pier. He lands smoothly on the creaky wooden floorboards.

Dan was gone.

Phil stayed there for hours. The day comes and goes, and Phil returns day after day to the pier where they had met. Days pass, then weeks, then months, and there is no answer, no clue, no sign that Dan would ever appear in front of Phil again. Finally, after three months, Phil almost gives up on hoping that Dan would return. 

But no, Phil couldn't give up like this. He refused to accept that Dan had forgotten him. He refused to give in to his fears of Dan running away with a mysterious  _someone_ he had imagined in his head.

 So Phil did the logical thing to do and starts on his journey to find Dan.

***

_Eighteen years_

Phil's flown higher and farther on his search for Dan than he'd ever done on a search for a mate. By then he had been to the four corners of the world and in the seven seas. He'd initially confined himself to searching the oceans, but went farther inland after months of combing the vast waters. He wasn't made to swim waters so he could only search near the water's surface. On the tiny chance that he could find answers to Dan's disappearance or find Dan hiding in the rivers and streams, Phil gambles his hopes and abandons the seas to turn his search on dry land.

Two years. Two years without Dan. But Phil remains steadfastly loyal to the idea that he would, someday, find Dan and settle the matter between them.

Phil was highly conflicted about Dan's confession. But he would do anything to understand what Dan was going through right now. Phil knew he had put him through immense pain.

Several months deep in his search, Phil stayed in a small town in a kingdom neighboring his former territory, Terratopia. He had to keep his head down low though, for if a Dragon was spotted in the borders of a kingdom, the Humans would not hesitate to try to kill it. That would be a nuisance and make his search all the more harder for Phil.

He had wrapped his tail tightly around his body, folded the wings on his back, and used disguising magic from a witch he had met in his visit to the arctic isles to hide his sharp horns. He could probably pass for a Human now, but his radiantly bright blue Dragon eyes would unnerve any Human. Phil had to be careful.

On a lonely but cozy road in the same kingdom, Phil finds the answers to his questions in the form of a familiar knight.

Phil had recognized his dirty blond hair and short stubble. And when he saw the familiar rusted armor and his wild eyes, there was no doubt. He was the same knight who had once tried to swim across the moat in Phil's former castle.

"Hmm, I think I need to pay a visit to an old friend," Phil mutters to himself and quickly decides to follow the knight.

Phil tails him until the knight finally notices him, drawing his longsword as soon as he had lured him to a location when no other people could be harmed.

"You." the knight glares venomously at Phil. "I thought the news of the Dragon being dead was too good to be true. What do you want from me, foul beast? Have you come to kill me and take over my home too?"

"I am here for information," Phil answers. "And you are going to give them to me."

"Why would I give them to you? I am not afraid of death. To be honest, I would rather face demise than watch the impending apocalypse that will unfold because of your stupidity." the Human doesn't say anything more and just grips the hilt of his sword tighter.

"I have no patience for your delusions. Answer my questions. Why did you try to break into the Terratopia castle? And what do you know of the merman with a spotted red tail and dark brown hair? You know, the same merman that had drowned you?"

The knight's sword was on his throat in an instant. "You are playing with me. The Sea Folk is still alive? But that's impossible. Why had you not killed it yet? I assumed that you had kept it around for a while to develop and drain its magic, but the Sea Folk would be too strong and intelligent to contain now. Do you Dragons not kill those who cease to be useful to you?"

"I may be a beast, but I am not a monster," Phil replies calmly. "That Sea Folk has come to be important to me. I will sacrifice a Dragon's weight in gold to get him back."

The knight's eyes widens as he senses Phil's sincerity. "Fine, Dragon, I will tell you a story and you will listen carefully. It is a secret that had been passed down through many generations.  I beg of you, Dragon, that in exchange of this information, you do not speak of this story's truthfulness to any other being, whether they be Supernatural or Human."

Phil was already curious. "I accept your terms. Go on," he encourages the Human.

"Many millennia ago in distant Human memory there was a tiny kingdom by the ocean. It was a prosperous but simple nation. That ancient kingdom is my home," the knight says proudly. "The Humans then lived there in complete peace. They were well isolated and relatively uninteresting so they were not often attacked by Supernaturals like you. They were content to fish and trade and explore the seas and they thanked the oceans everyday for giving them their livelihood. But one day, everything changed.

"One day, a powerful and immortal Supernatural came to the kingdom, rising from the waves and creating powerful winds to signal his arrival. He called himself the ruler of the Seas, and he proclaimed that he came to bless the Humans of the kingdom for their gratitude to the oceans with a unique gift. He was to give the blessing to the entire kingdom if they gave up their fishing trade to join him under the oceans as his chosen people. They would renounce contact with other Humans forever and be his trusted subjects.

"Naturally many Humans in the kingdom  were upset, especially the kingdom's rulers, the then king and queen," The knight continues, assessing Phil's reaction. "And there was a great division among my people. One side who wanted a new life under the Elder and the other who argued that they would not give up their livelihood because fishing and trade was and will always be the way of the kingdom. And when the Elder took his supporters under the sea, the rift only deepened.

"Encounters between the two sides became violent. Eventually they went to war. One armed with the Elder's magical powers, the other armed with the most sophisticated naval vessels of that time.The queen and king ordered their navy to kill all of the Elder's supporters and the Elder flooded the kingdom with tsunami after tsunami.

"And the name of the Elder's new people? The Sea Folk." the knight finishes.

"So the Sea Folk were actually descended from Humans," Phil murmurs. "That explains a lot. So what does this have to do with my merman?"

"Everything," the knight says simply. "A century after the war, a once prosperous kingdom was in ruins and the economy was failing. We reached a peace treaty with the Sea Folk after our navy had captured a Sea Folk princess. The king of that time was a kind man who ordered the release of the princess. We had lost touch with the Sea Folk then and he pleaded with the princess for peace negotiations for the war that never officially ended. He released her fully expecting to never see her again. But the Elder showed up and also requested a peace treaty as well.

"The Elder proclaimed that he did not wish to see the war go on for any longer. His people were being hunted mercilessly and his magic was growing weary from stirring up violent storms. So we reached an agreement. We would bind our two kingdoms by royal marriage; a Sea Folk prince to the king's daughter.  A decree would be passed formally ending the war. 

"The Elder would promise the king that the two kingdoms would remain united this way until the end of time. Every hundred or so years, a Sea Folk prince would be betrothed to the oldest princess of our kingdom. He would be born with great magic. Normal Sea Folk aren't as powerful as the Elder, but the chosen prince's power could rival his. The Elder gifted the chosen princes with his ability to turn Sea Folk into Humans and Humans into Sea Folk so that he could take his Human bride with him to live with under the oceans or turn into a Human himself to live in our kingdom. Over centuries, this story became regarded as a legend among most of my people. But the peace was certainly very real. It was forbidden by law to hurt a Sea Folk, and in turn no storms as violent as the ones before passed over us.

"Your beloved merman, the prince named Daniel James Howell, is the prince fated to marry the current king's daughter. But ever since his egg was taken away from us by our enemies from Terratopia, and later so foolishly hatched by a certain Dragon, his destiny has been in ruins. It doesn't matter now, anyways. The Terrans murdered my king's entire family. He was the only one left who survived, and even then all he could think about was the Sea Folk egg. He knew that if the merman hatchling died the kingdom would once again face the Sea Folk's wrath."

"Daniel... Dan's a prince. You were..." Phil put together the pieces. "You were the one who sent the Wolfmen, weren't you? And I bet you had something to do with the Dragon—my brother—attacking me too?"

"The king's messenger did, yes. We stopped plotting to send threats to Terratopia after you disappeared because we thought you had already killed the merman. The king tried keeping the Prince's disappearance and his family's death a secret from the Sea Folk. But the charade is not going to last soon. Traditionally, the Sea Folk Prince is raised with Humans before making the choice of whether to be a Human with his betrothed or take her back to the oceans at twenty one years of age. The Sea Folk know right away when the egg has hatched, and time is running out as Daniel gets older. When twenty-one years have passed they will discover both that the most powerful member of their species could be dead and that there is nothing uniting their kingdom to ours. The Elder has been reserving his magic for millennia and when it is unleashed there would be hell to pay."

Phil couldn't speak. He was awestruck by the story, cursing himself over and over for even accidentally meddling in something like this. Phil's tears were threatening to overflow.

"Dragon, I beg of you, you are our kingdom's only hope. I can see that you really care about the merman; I didn't know that Dragons could care so deeply. But if you really care about him, you will return him to our kingdom safely so that both Humans and Sea Folk will not destroy each other in a war greater than the one many millennia ago." the knight tells him urgently. "The king may be dead, yes, but he had planned to pass on his title to his brother. He has a daughter that Daniel could marry. Then order would be restored."

That statement twists a knife in Phil's heart. _He can't be with you._  "I can't return him. Dan is missing. If he ever saw me, he won't forgive me. He won't listen to me. But honestly, I can't imagine that I would return him if he didn't want to go back to your kingdom. " Phil smiles sadly. The knight narrows his eyes at him as if he was trying to place something.

"Such an intense emotion," the knight observes. "Are you sure you are only saying that because you want to keep him to yourself?"

"I—" Phil stops short.

"And why would you bother flying all the way here for a missing merman? And in the first place, why would you care so much?" the Human continues, never breaking eye contact with him. "I have seen Dragons like this before. You are acting like a Dragon who has lost its mate."

Phil was silent for a long time. "He's... he's not my mate. Dan's just a merman I raised and grew to care about."

The knight opens his mouth as if to say something contradictory, but quickly changes his mind. "Fine. But I only have one advice to you, Dragon. Remember who Daniel belongs to and what he's meant for." the knight sheaths his sword and leaves. "That might make it easier for you to choose which path to take."

Phil's left in the empty alleyway, struggling to recover his lost thoughts.

 _"Daniel James Howell,"_ Phil rolls around in his tongue experimentally. "I'm coming for you." Phil spreads his wings and flies away.

He just hope it's not too late, that Dan would forgive him for selfishly taking him from his destiny.  

 ***

_Twenty years_

Phil manages to find Dan after four years. He had returned to his former home in the harbor to reminisce and, in what seemed like a sudden twist of fate, he meets him at the pier where they had last seen each other four years ago.

Dan looks so handsome now, even more than Phil remembers. His dark hair is floppier and wilder and he has a fire in his eyes that rivaled Phil's. He was tanned and various scars decorated his chest. His tail had now grown so long that he could be several inches longer than Phil if he stretched out. Dan looked only slightly younger than him now, Phil sadly realizes.

"So you found me," Dan smiles, showing off his razor-sharp teeth and running his webbed hand through his hair. "Or rather, I let you."

"I thought you would be hiding among the Humans," says Phil, walking towards Dan cautiously as if he was afraid he would bolt like a startled deer. "since you can turn into them anyways."

"Ah, you heard the story about me being a Prince." Dan nods as if the conversation was as casual as it could get. "That's true. But I only get to use the power once, then either I or some other poor person would get stuck in that form forever. I don't think I want to be a Human permanently."

"Why were you so hard to find?" Phil said, drinking in the familiar sight of Dan. He looked so similar, yet so different from his past self, that it was hard not to stare.

"You would be surprised by how close you've come to me," Dan chuckles. "But it's so easy to avoid you when I can sense you through our link."

"Our link?" Phil says, confused.

"You can't sense it since you're a Dragon, but I can sense how close or how far away you are." Dan informs him neutrally. 

"Oh, so now you're sensing me? Are you going to say again that you think we're 'made for each other?'" Phil says sarcastically, but his heart was racing.

"I don't think so, I know so." Dan says gently. "And I have always been able to sense you. Why do you think I was always able to come when you called for me before?"

"But why, then, Dan?" Phil's eyes showed his hurt. "Why didn't you come back then, when I had tried to reach out to you so many times?"

Dan takes a deep breath. "Have you even taken one second to realize what you've done to me? Phil, after our... misunderstanding, I think even you would agree that I needed some soul-searching for my own. I hid among my people, learning about my story while hiding my past. I told them I was an explorer who came back from distant seas and they readily accepted me. My people have spread to the farthest reaches of the ocean, Phil.

"I learned that most Sea Folk did not have the kind of magic I had. And I've learned about the story of the Prince, a story that even the youngest Sea Folk knew about." Dan tells Phil. " I put together the pieces... you, finding me in the abandoned castle and me being powerful enough to kill a Dragon. I am the current prince, aren't I?" Phil already realized that Dan knew the answer. He was only waiting for Phil's confirmation.

Phil didn't answer the already obvious question."You would return to the Sea Folk then?" Phil couldn't resist the sadness creeping in his voice. "I understand. It's the right thing for you to do. I was selfish for keeping you in the castle when I knew better."

 "Let me finish." Dan holds up his hand. "I don't care about the Sea Folk. They rest their entire future on a single merman and take away his right to love a person he so chooses. Have they ever thought that the chosen princes could have a different destined mate? And I hate the Humans for starting the war in the first place when the Elder's people could have gone peacefully. No, I refuse to be used as an excuse for starting another war. I refuse to accept the responsibilities. I won't become their scapegoat. Let them both answer their wrongdoings. I want to ask you to join me, Phil. We could go into hiding and live our lives in peace."

"You would rather start a war...for me?" says a horrified Phil. "But why?"

"Do you know what else I learned from the Sea Folk?" Dan asks. "How we love. Did you know that Sea Folk can sense their soulmates, the person they were meant to be with, by the feeling of their magic reacting with that someone's. They would come to love this person so much that they would sacrifice the moon and the stars for them."

 "So is that why you think you love me?" Phil asks incredulously. "Just because you had a _feeling?"_

 "Phil, feelings are  _everything_  in love. It's the reason why love exists! It's wrong for you to keep hiding it too." Dan said with finality. "I forgive you. Even if you haven't said any apology to me yet. Because you've left your old self behind, the Phil who kills and destroys so mercilessly behind. For me." Dan's lips twitched upward. "And you can't say that you haven't been feeling it too." Dan places a hand on top of Phil's.

Phil shivers as he fights the familiar tingling sensations and the crackling of his magic as it struggles to reunite with Dan's. "I don't," Phil insists.

"Liar." Ever so slightly, Dan breaks into a familiar mischievous grin, wrapping his arms around Phil's neck and pulling him closer.

"Why here? Why did you decide to show yourself now?" Phil murmurs in Dan's ear. "Did you sense that I was ready to accept you?"

"No, I felt I was ready to accept  _you._ " Dan turns his eyes away. "And even if it might be hard, I'm willing to try."

That was how Phil gave in and finally admitted to himself that he loved Dan.

As Phil sinks his fangs into Dan's tender flesh, he bonds his very soul to his. A Dragon's Bondmark forms on the spot where Phil bites, spiral patterns of glowing blue spreading across him. It settles into a gorgeous intricate circle, decorating Dan's entire neck. Dan opens his palm, and blue-green flames shoot out from his palm. Both their magic now inhabit both of their bodies.

"Thank you for loving me like no one else."  

 ***

_Twenty-one years_

They are caught.  The Elder's guards finally catch them near the seas of a tiny coastal town thousands of miles away from Terratopia. The Elder, it seemed, had learned of the knight's kingdom's deception soon after Dan had turned twenty-one and had ordered a planetwide search for him.

It was not hard for the cunning Elder to catch the oblivious couple off guard. The two, were, after all, confined to the sea because of Dan's nature. At the dead of night, with Phil huddled close by to the shore with a sleeping Dan, the Elder's henchmen cast a sleeping spell onto Phil and kidnapped them both.

"Let him breathe!" Dan screams when he wakes up and finds that they dragged an unconscious Phil underwater. "Are you crazy?! He doesn't have gills!" Dan looks around to find that they were in a large room with a council of Sea Folk. It must be a tribunal to decide their fate.

“Daniel James Howell, that is not behavior befitting the Prince of our kin!” one of the Sea Folk snaps. "We have cast an air charm on him so he could breathe. Calm down."

"My name is Dan." he glowers. "Not Daniel. Release Phil. You only want me, right?"

 _"Do not be naive. He is to be punished."_ another deeper and more authoritative voice replies.  _"AWAKEN."_

"Ughhh," Phil groans as he shakes off his sleep. "Where am I?"

 _"How is your sleep, serpent?"_   Phil looks around to see the source of the haunting voice, and he sees a merman with dark eyes and two fish tails. His tone of voice and and stern face made Phil instantly know it was the Elder.  _"Daniel, I sense that this filthy thing has forcibly taken you as its mate. We must kill him before he infects you with its greed and evil._ _"_

"I did it out of my own free will!" Dan screams. "Because he loves me, you twats! Unlike you people, who are selfish enough to use me as a weapon! Do not think you have fooled me. I know why you made the pact with the Humans; you just want to gain an advantage over them because you were slowly losing your power. The chosen princes before never chose to live as Humans. They always brought the brides with them to the sea. You could demand ransom from their kingdom any time by threatening to kill their former princess."

The Elder glares with disgust at the young merman.  _"I can see that the Dragon has infected you with his selfishness. Who else would question the very safety of his people? Why do you think we stoop to such a level? The Human have become a serious threat to us._   _Their technology is advancing at an astounding pace. Soon, they will be capable of wiping us out."_

The Elder continues in a matter-of-fact tone. _"It is impossible for a Dragon, a creature of the sky, to love a _Sea Folk, a creature of the deep_. They are incompatible, a couple going against the very laws of nature itself. It is an abomination waiting to erupt from the inside out. It is better to submit to your fate. You could choose to live a life of splendor with your mate in the sea."_  The Elder frowns. _"Or you could choose to be Human. It does not matter. The pact will still be intact. No threats from the Humans can come to us."_

Dan icy glare makes most of the Sea Folk cower. “For the last time, my name is DAN! And I will never betray Phil!” Phil smirks at Dan's bravado, but quietly fears for Dan's life.

 _“Silence!”_ The Elder’s voice echoes. _“Daniel, if you do not cease to be impolite, I will be forced to cast a sleeping spell on you while we deliberate on your... mate's fate.”_ Dan grows silent.

The Elder turns to Phil. _“You have made a grave mistake, taking Daniel as your mate. You have taken him away from his fated betrothed, and you have caused the pact between Humans and Sea Folk to crumble. Now there is nothing preventing them to hunt us to extinction, and there is nothing to protect them from the Sea Folk’s wrath.”_

"Wait! Leave him alone!" Dan cries. "This was my fault... don't punish him!"

 _“And for starting a war we will do worse than kill you. You will lead a life devoid of any magic and meaning,”_ the Elder bellows, ignoring Dan. _“You will be exiled to a world where you feel as worthless as the beings you once trampled on. You will be exiled to a place where your magic and cunning mean nothing. This is your punishment for bonding to the Prince of the Sea Folk.”_

Phil can feel the Elder’s curse draining his magic. His majestic horns fall uselessly from the top of his head, his wings sear off his back, and the bones of his tail are ripped apart from his body. His very Dragon identity was being stripped away from him, slowly and painfully.

 _“How does it feel to be without power?”_ The Elder says with malice. The Sea Folk jeer loudly as they watch Phil twitch and wail in agony. _“Begone, former Dragon. Begone, lowly Human!”_

“Stop!” Dan wails.

Phil didn’t expect it from Dan, didn’t expect him to reach out as a streak of blinding light made Phil glow white-hot. He thought the Elder had already frightened the unruly merman into submission, and yet, here was Dan, gripping hard onto his wrist as Phil’s essence started to dissipate. As Dan starts to glow too, he utters a final statement.

“I choose to be Human!”

***

_Twenty-three years_

“Phil, come on, this video won’t record itself you know!” Dan yells excitedly, running full speed towards Phil on the other end of their flat. “I—woah!”

“Careful!” Phil laughs wholeheartedly, propping Dan up. “Don’t run if you’re just going to end up tripping.”

“Okay, _mum_ ,” Dan says sarcastically with a playful roll of his eyes. “But seriously, hurry up.”

Every day, it got a little easier. It was hard at first for Phil to get used to not being able to see the vast expanse of land as he flew high above the clouds. Every time he got reminded of that fact, he got a pang of longing for the feeling of the wind rushing underneath his wings. Then he would try to flap them, only to realize yet again that his beloved wings were long gone.

Sometimes he cried after he woke up from his dreams of black soot and blue-green fire, and of violent waves and stormy seas. And sometime he would lapse into depression when he realizes his life is now much, much shorter, and he wouldn’t have as much time with Dan. It’s not so bad anymore, especially with Dan constantly by his side. Dan would pull him into a tight embrace and murmur words of comfort to make his painful thoughts go away.

“Phil, it’s okay. Doesn’t this mean we won’t have to live long without each other anymore?” Dan used to say to Phil.

Dan on the other hand still hasn’t gotten used to waking up and seeing a pair of legs underneath his covers. And learning how to stand on them, with no warning or preparation whatsoever, was no small feat. The sensation of no longer breathing in water still felt alien to Dan too. But he had to get used to them, because his gill slits aren’t there anymore. Gone too are his webbed hands, sharp teeth and nails, and the spiny fin on his back. Dan always feels strangely naked without them.

When he had made his choice to turn Human, Dan had only chosen it to be with Phil. But he’d learned that the Humans of this world were completely different from the savage and primitive Humans back in his home, and that made this world less shocking to live in. Though it was far from the world of peace and equality Dan had always dreamed of, it was a good place to start.

Dan would have recurring nightmares about the brewing war between his people and the Humans. He hopes at least, that this world would be more peaceful than his former home.

There were a lot of things they had to learn quickly to adjust to the new world they were in. For one thing, where this world lacked in magic, it more than made up for it in engineering marvels. There were things beyond anything they’ve seen back at home: giant towers that rose endlessly into the sky, silent and stealthy Human-made machines that lurked underneath the oceans and even huge metal beasts that soared through the air faster and higher than Phil hoped to fly.The Humans of this world, who never experienced the atrocities of the Supernaturals, had truly blossomed and created a healthy, thriving society and a vibrant culture. It was jarring for both Dan and Phil.

There were no Dragons. No Sea Folk. No Supernaturals. Just Humans who lived content in their domain, blissfully oblivious to the secret worlds that inhabited other planes of reality. Here, Dan and Phil could make a fresh start for themselves, with no pesky ancient laws to get in their way. The Humans that Phil had so despised now become his—their—best friends.

For Phil, the Elder did tell the truth. But he got one thing wrong: there was no magic, yes, but there was _meaning_.

“Hey, do you ever miss our bond?” Dan asks Phil suddenly while setting up the camera. “We can’t feel each other anymore. We have what the Humans have, and it’s dull, disconnected and only linked by shared emotions. Doesn’t it make you think it’s so… inadequate?” He briefly touches the faded, useless Bondmark at the back of his neck.

Phil doesn’t even hesitate. “I don’t miss it, not even a little bit. Even without it, I’d follow you beyond the ends of the Earth. I don’t need a Bondmark to tell me you belong to me.”

“Hmm. I guess you’re right.” Dan grins at this as he presses the record button quickly and settles into place beside Phil.

“Hey guys, I’m AmazingPhil and this is Dan—” Phil starts with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, sorry. I should have been updating my other fanfic A Cacophony of Melodies but I just couldn't resist writing this after the idea passed through my head :3 I hope you guys liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I'll be up with another chapter of ACOM sometime next week.
> 
> Edit: I fixed up a lot of things here, haha. This is the final draft, I swear


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